B.J. Hill signs $30 million extension with Bengals; Jakobi Meyers gets $4 million deal for 2022

Former Wolfpack football star B.J. Hill signed a three-year, $30 million extension with the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday, with $15 million due in the first year of the contract.

Hill was a 2018 3rd round pick (69th overall) by the Giants. After a stellar rookie year in 2018 where he started 12 games and registered 5.5 sacks, his playing time diminished over the next two seasons where he started a combined five games and registered a total of just 2.0 sacks.

Just prior to the start of the 2021 season, Hill was traded (along with a 2022 7th round pick) to the Bengals for center Billy Price. Hill started just two games in the regular season in 2021, but recorded a career-high 50 tackles and matched his career-high with 5.5 sacks. He then went on to start three of the Bengals’ four playoff games on their run to a Super Bowl appearance, registering 13 tackles and 1.5 sacks in the process, as well as huge interception of Patrick Mahomes in the AFC Championship game - a play that helped spurn Cincinnati to a come-from-behind victory.

A day prior to Hill’s contract extension, Jakobi Meyers earned a pay raise for the 2022 season with the New England Patriots as he’ll earn at the least a shade under $4 million for the coming season.

Meyers entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2019, signing with the Patriots. As such, he was a restricted free agent this offseason.

Meyers still can negotiate a contract and sign with any other NFL team, but the Patriots have first right of refusal to match any contract he does sign, and should they refuse to match a contract for Meyers from another team they’ll receive the 2022 2nd-round pick of the team Meyers signs with. Should no other contract be reached with another team, Meyers will earn $3.986 million in 2022 and then become an unrestricted free agent at the conclusion of that season.